A Problem on Wheels: The Critical Shortage of Drivers Paralyzing Spain

Road transport, the backbone of logistics in Spain, is facing one of its biggest crises in decades. The Road Safety Commission of the Congress of Deputies has once again brought to the table a painful reality: there is a shortage of more than 30,000 professional drivers for goods transport. This is not a mere anecdote, but a structural problem that hinders the efficiency of the supply chain and which, if not urgently addressed, threatens to strangle the national economy.

The magnitude of the challenge becomes clear when analyzing the sector’s generational pyramid. The bulk of the more than 450,000 active drivers are concentrated between the ages of 45 and 55. The forecasts are alarming: one-third of this workforce will retire in the next decade. This means that the current shortage is not a bump in the road, but the beginning of a cliff. A perfect storm is approaching, where the mass exit of experienced professionals clashes with a deafening absence of a trained and motivated younger generation to replace them.

What deters the new generations? The barriers are multiple. On the one hand, the high cost of obtaining class C and D professional licenses, which can exceed 5,000 euros, acts as an insurmountable wall for many young people. On the other hand, working conditions are often a deterrent: long days away from home, delivery deadline pressure, associated bureaucracy, and unfair competition that undermines wages. The profession has lost social and economic appeal, unable to compete with other sectors that offer better work-life balance and fewer personal sacrifices.

Faced with this situation, the political initiative is trying to react. The Non-Legal Proposition presented by Esquerra Republicana, and supported by other groups, proposes a comprehensive plan with concrete measures. These include expanding aid for licenses, creating a specific financing line with “training vouchers,” and designing campaigns to attract young people, women, and the unemployed. It is a necessary recognition that the problem requires decisive public intervention to remove barriers to entry and dignify the profession.

However, aid for licenses, although crucial, is only part of the solution. The real change must come from a substantial improvement in working conditions. This involves fighting fraud in the sector, guaranteeing decent wages that reflect the responsibility and sacrifice of the job, and improving key aspects such as the availability of adequate rest areas and health protection. Without a collective effort by administrations, companies, and associations to make the position more attractive, any promotion measure could be an empty gesture. In short, the driver shortage is a problem of national security in logistical and economic terms. The emerging political consensus is a hopeful first step, but words must materialize into decisive and budgeted actions. Time is running against us. Every driver who retires without a trained replacement is another link that weakens in the chain that supplies our supermarkets, factories, and businesses. The future of Spanish logistics depends on the ability to stop this hemorrhage of talent and experience.